Rodriguez and the lessons of arbitration cases

Dear Readers, Alex Rodriguez, disgraced cheater, is toast. His season is shot; his career may be over; and, his Hall of Fame chances are blown up. The arbitration decision, largely upholding Major League Baseball’s suspension of him, was predictable and final, even though Rodriguez vows to fight on in the Federal Courts. Which gives me an opportunity, as a “teachable moment,” to explain how arbitration works.

MLB and its Player’s Association (MLBPA) have something called a “Collective Bargaining Agreement.” This is a complicated contract negotiated between management and unions. We have them here at RAFBs and just a few other businesses in the area, as unions are otherwise very weak in the South.

Embedded in this CBA are rules about ownership’s ability to discipline players and, in the event of a disagreement about an individual discipline, “binding” arbitration. Arbitration is a fairly new legal method of resolving disputes and, as to those of us not privileged to be a professional athlete, arbitration clauses are commonly inserted in our credit card agreements.

The reason your credit card company, essentially, forces you to agree ahead of time to arbitration for disputes is that this limits their exposure should you wish to sue them – both in terms of the costs of any litigation and the consequences if they lose.

But, I digress … MLB’s agreed form of arbitration directs disputes about discipline into an alternative form of private litigation that looks and feels a lot like garden variety civil litigation, albeit without a jury, with limited pre-trial discovery, limited subpoena power, and without the wait for a spot on a judge’s litigation calendar. The arbitrator, or panel of arbitrators, are pre-cleared in the CBA, so that there is no bickering about who will hear the case. All of these truncated procedures allow for quick hearing and a quick resolution. Thus, as we see with Rodriguez, we went from Bud Selig’s decision to suspend him for 211 days, to arbitration hearing, to ruling, all in about four months.

News headlines are blaring that Rodriguez lost his appeal. Technically, this is not an accurate statement – he did not lose the appeal, the MLBPA lost the appeal. Again, the CBA is between management and the union and arbitration provides a process in which the MLBPA and MLB can grieve claims of abuse of power.

Certainly, Rodriguez’s attorneys were heavily invested in the arbitration hearing, but it is back to the CBA that you have to look for remedies when the suspension was essentially upheld (the reduction to 162 games, or a full season plus playoffs, is almost meaningless).

And, this is a problem for Rodriguez. He does not have the right to appeal or contest the arbitration decision (MLBPA, in theory could).

This is another reason a credit card company favors arbitration clause in its credit card agreements – arbitration rulings are not appealable in the regular court system. So, if Rodriguez wants to ask a court to review the arbitration decision, as he has threatened, he actually is going to have to sue both MLB and MLBPA and argue that they were complicit in an arbitration process that violated his rights.

In other words, he cannot directly attack the ruling; he has to attack some sort of defect in the process.

Which, as a practical matter, “ain’t gonna happen.”

Federal courts are beyond loathe to undo an arbitration decision. Their attitude is that if parties want to agree to a private dispute process to resolve a legal disagreement, fine, go right ahead. People are free to do so … but don’t come running to the court system to complain about a bad result.

In other words, we may see Rodriguez showing up at spring training, because he cannot help being an egotistical irritant, however, we are not going to see him playing any Major League Baseball this season. Selig’s powers as commissioner start with the ability to discipline players who violate the bargained for testing policy rules, proscribing positive tests for the use of performance enhancement drugs. We now know that he can also discipline players proven to have involvement with PEDs outside of just a testing program. Thanks for the education A-Rod!

Local attorney Jim Rockefeller owns the Rockefeller Law Center and is a former Houston Co. Chief Assistant District Attorney, and a former Miami Prosecutor. Visit www.rockefellerlawcenter.com to submit confidential legal questions, and to review former articles and Frequently Asked Questions.